1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a window management system, and more particularly to such system adapted for use in a video conference or the like.
2. Related Background Art
The conventional interactive operation apparatus is provided, in the control program (application program) thereof, with means for realizing the interactive operations between the interactive operation apparatus and the user. However, in order to meet the requirement of uniting the independently prepared plural application programs as a single united application, it is desired to externally control each program by communication, and there have been proposed various systems such as OLD (object linking and embedding) from Microsoft and OpenDoc from Apple Computer and utilized in certain softwares. An example is the electronic mail software, in which a document preparing editor, a graphic editor for graphics preparation and a voice input software for voice mail, which are separately prepared, can be utilized in collective manner.
On the other hand, there is being developed a groupware, which is software intended for supporting a group work of plural persons, instead of supporting the personal use of the computer. A typical example is the video conference system utilizing desk-top computers, in which utilized is a paint software that can be viewed and written in by all the participants, corresponding to a whiteboard in the conference room.
Also it will be effective if the software program used for personal work can be used in the group work, in eliminating the time required for learning the operations for such software and in anticipating the improvement in work efficiency, based on the accumulated experience on such software. Based on such standpoint, there are being developed certain softwares, called a common window program or a common application program, which are not particularly designed for group work but can be viewed and/or can allow data writing by plural users, such as ShowMe and SharedApp by Sun Soft. The OLE, OpenDoc, ShowMe and SharedApp mentioned above are trade names or registered trade marks of the respective manufacturers.
However, in case such conventional common window program is employed as a part of the united program, it is necessary to add the operations for the group work to the program for general use. When such addition is made, the control for providing and eliminating the operating right, indispensable for the group work, can be assigned to the window control program operating under such general program, but the display operations for informing the users of the status of such operating right belong to the general program. Consequently there is encountered a problem of how to construct the user interface specific to such group work.
In the above-mentioned systems such as OLE or OpenDoc, a code for controlling the display operation of each program is transmitted from the outside thereof and each program is provided therein with means for recognizing thus transmitted code, whereby the application programs are suitably arranged in a single window and the display can be renewed by means of a management program constituting the main body of the united application, but such systems do not consider ordinary programs not provided with such recognizing means. Consequently, in case of including such programs as the aforementioned common window programs, it has not been possible to manage, under the united interface, the ordinary programs controlled through the common window program and the programs prepared for group work.
Also in the ordinary window system, there is already known a window manager program for controlling the separately present window areas, but such window manager program, if used specifically for the group work, results in drawbacks in the matching with ordinary programs and in the convenience of use in ordinary jobs.
Furthermore, in the united application, it is sometimes desirable to effect a collective operation for plural programs, and, for such purpose, there is sometimes provided an operation area (window) for collectively controlling the programs, outside the operation window for the respective program. In such case it becomes necessary to inform the user of the correspondence between each operation object in the operating area and the window or program, but there has not been known a simple method for fulfilling such objective. More specifically, such objective can only be attained by constructing each object program so as to have a particular display format for the groupware, or by developing newly a window manage program containing special operations for the united application.
Furthermore, in case such collective operation is made possible for the plural programs or plural window, it is desired to identify the selected plural programs in a simple manner, but the windows are scattered all over the entire screen and it is difficult to recognize the selected windows at a glance.
Furthermore, in the operation specific to the application program, particularly in the category of groupware, the data and the program are used in common among plural users, so that there is required a user interface for informing the users of the owner of the operating right.
Furthermore, as the groupware system has the character of communication means as in the video conference system, it will be convenient if the progress can be recorded. Some voice-input programs for personal use are designed to provide display "in recording" in order to inform the user of the recording state, but the conventional groupware systems are not provided with such user interface capable of displaying the recording state on the window or informing the user, in a simple manner, of the recording state of the various programs as in the progress of the video conference.
Also in case of obtaining information on the user who owns the operating right of the common window system, it has been necessary to refer to a user list displayed on another opened window, or to effect an actual input operation on the window currently used in work and to check whether the input operation is accepted.
Consequently, for obtaining the information on the owner of the operating right, the user of the common window system is required to effect an additional operation of opening a window of the user list or of pop-up, and such additional operation deteriorates the work efficiency. Also it is often difficult to find the window of the user list if many window are already opened for the work.
Also, in the common window system, the position and the size of the common window generated by the client application are managed by the window manager of each work station and can be varied in each work station. Also there is known a system in which a variation in the window size is reflected in other servers only when such variation is made by a server having the operating right, and, in such system, a variation in the common window size is not transmitted to other servers if such variation is made by a server which does not have the operating right.
Consequently, since each work station can freely change the size of the common window, the result of operations displayed on the common window of the server (work station) having the operating right may become unobservable on other work stations.
FIG. 23 illustrates such situation. The work stations A and B have common windows a, b, and it is assumed that the work station A has the operating right, and that an operation on the window a is transmitted also to the window b for a cooperative work. The window b, being arbitrarily variable in size, may be reduced in size as illustrated, so that the content displayed in an area h of the window a becomes unobservable on the window b. In such a situation it is difficult to effect a cooperative work smoothly, utilizing the common window.
Also in case of superposing, on a certain window, a permeable window of a same shape, the user is required to designate, with a mouse, the underlying window on which the permeable window is to be superposed.
By such window designation there is known the identification code of said window (hereinafter called window ID), and the permeable window is generated, based on the position and size of designated window obtained from said window ID.
Such permeable window can be given various functions, for supporting the work desired for the purpose. For example, the permeable window can be given a drawing function, in order to describe comments on the displays on the underlying window.
However, in the conventional configuration, there is required an operation of designating the window, in order to obtain the position information of such window generated by the existing program.
Such designating operation is felt unnecessary, particularly if the object window is obvious from the process of the work. For example, if the permeable window is to be superposed on a window to be generated next, the object window is obvious even without the designation by the user, but the window manager has still to be changed in order to obtain the window ID of such object window. Otherwise, it is necessary to write a program controlling all the displayed windows. Such process is tedious and an improvement has therefore been longed for.